Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in the Indian trust lawsuit representing the interests of hundreds of thousands of Native Americans, issued the following statement concerning last night’s U.S. Senate rejection of the $3.4 billion settlement in that case (see post here):

Elouise Cobell (AP photo)

BROWNING, Mont., July 23 — On July 1, 2010, the House of Representatives passed HR4899 – Disaster/War Supplemental Appropriations. It included legislation to approve the Cobell v. Salazar individual Indian trust settlement. Late last night, however, the Senate stripped from HR 4899 all domestic spending provisions, including our settlement legislation, notwithstanding that the domestic spending provisions are fully paid for. The stripped version of the bill returns to the House for further consideration. This is the second time in two months that the Senate has failed to act on settlement legislation although it is fully paid-for and had been expected to pass if put to a vote.

As a result of Senate action, legislative approval of our settlement, once again, is in the capable hands of House leadership, which steadfastly has supported us since settlement with the government was reached on December 7, 2009. We have great confidence in Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer and believe that they will continue to ensure that 500,000 individual Indians finally are provided justice that is long overdue. We are depending on them.

Rob Capriccioso of Indian Country Today has this story about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s criticism of Republicans who helped ax the settlement – and also about the response from Republicans, notably Wyoming Republican John Barrasso, the most vocal opponent of some of the settlement’s provisions.

That story mentions that hopes for eventual approval are not dead, as does this piece by the Blog of Legal Times (aka BLT).

That piece reiterates that the most recent deadline – there have been many, with many delays – for congressional approval of the settlement is Aug. 6.

As always, stay tuned.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Cobell v. Salazar, Elouise Cobell, Gwen Florio, Indian trust case, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. John Barrasso, U.S. Senate